Gloria Griffin, senior director for site planning at Convergys

Making the 'A' List

Convergys, the Cincinnati-based provider of billing and customer care products and services to leading companies in telecommunications, cable and broadband, recently opened a 44,000-sq.-ft. (4,087-sq.-m.) customer contact center in Welland, Ont., about 30 miles west of Buffalo, N.Y. The facility uses 403 workstations and has the capacity to expand to more than 975 employees. It is one of the company's nine contact centers in Canada and 46 worldwide.
        Gloria Griffin, Convergys' senior director of site planning, says her company examines a long list of components when looking at cities for expansion. In a normal year, Griffin says, Convergys sites about eight facilities.
        In preparation for its searches, the company keeps a running list of potential locations. To make the list, a location must have the right population, work force size and availability and technology infrastructure. Potential sites must satisfy the ever-important quality-of-life quotient. Education le vels of employee pools in cogitable cities must be just right too, as strong knowledge of computer-based programs is essential.
        "We keep an active list of pre-selected cities and we update it every 18 months," Griffin says. "If the infrastructure is not in place, the city will not make the list. The next step is to look at available real estate. Everything in Welland was positive. We were able to locate in an area of the city that is well known to residents and has easy access to public transportation."
        Griffin says Canada has been consistently hot in the customer contact center derby. With unemployment high in recent years, there has been plenty of labor, and Canada boasts a quality education system.
        "The work we perform in contact centers today is becoming more advanced," Griffin says. "We look for specific skill sets, and having access to universities is a benefit."

Assurant is building a new call center in Kingston, Ont., and is expanding its facility in Lawton, Okla. The Kingston facility has a target opening of July.

        Assurant Group, the Atlanta-based insurance firm, is also building in Ontario, having found a site in Kingston. Construction began in December 2002 on a US$4.15-million, 45,000-sq.-ft. (4,180-sq.-m) operations center which will employ 400 as the company consolidates Canadian activities. The facility has a target opening of July 2003.
        Doug Haase, Assurant's vice president, contact center operations, says in conjunction with CB Richard Ellis, his company started looking at 416 sites across the eastern half of Canada in February 2002. With 40 percent of the company's callers speaking French, eastern provinces had the advantage in competing for the facility. Four made the first cut a month later. Then it was narrowed to two before Kingston emerged the winner last September.
        "We selected Kingston based on amenities in the community," says Haase. "We like to locate where a military base and a university are located."
        Haase says Kingston also offers a highly educated work force with a significant labor pool due to a high unemployment rate. And for further reassurance, the company persuaded Kingston economic developers not to solicit other call centers.
        "Once you reach a level of saturation in a market, it inhibits your ability to grow and stay ahead," Haase says.
        Assurant opened a center in Lawton, Okla., in 2001 and is now in the midst of a major expansion. Assurant chose Lawton after working with CB Richard Ellis to scout sites in Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia and Oklahoma. The Lawton operation is expanding to add 230 seats, which will boost employment to 600.
        Haase says Assurant is moving toward fewer, but larger, locations. He says facilities in the 500-600 seat range seem to be optimal.
        "Moderate-sized centers seem to work better," Haas says. "Small centers are too costly and large centers are too difficult to operate."